Drumbaragh House, Kells, Co Meath 

Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.

supplement. 

p. 296. “Woodward/LG1875) A tall three storey three bay C18 block. Central chimneystack; C19 pillared porch and window surrounds.” 

Not in National Inventory 

Record of Protected Structures: 

Drumbaragh House, townland: Drumbaragh. 

Three storey over basement house built c. 1800, attributed to designs by Francis Johnston, remodelled in late 1860s by William Caldbeck, extended to the rear c.1900. Includes gate lodge, walled garden. 

Houses a-d

Drumbaragh, also spelled Drumbarrow, is located on the Oldcastle Road from Kells. Drumbaragh house is a three storey house with a large central chimneystack, erected  about 1800, possibly to the design of Francis Johnston. The house was remodelled in the 1860s by architect, William Caldbeck. The house was extended at rear by architect, L.A. McDonnell, about 1900. The 1800s interiors have survived. The house was a distance from the public road with the farmyard between the house and the road. A gate lodge was erected for Robert Woodward to the design of his cousin the noted  architect, Benjamin Woodward. 

Drumbaragh was the seat of the Woodward family. Benjamin Wodward was confirmed in his lands at Drumbarrow in 1668 following their confiscations from the Hill and Plunkett families by Cromwell. Benjamin’s son, Joseph, died in 1702 leaving a son, Charles who married three times. By his second wife he had a son, Benjamin, born in 1710.  Benjamin married Judith Meredyth of Newtown in 1733. Benjamin died in 1761 and was succeeded at Drumbarrow by his second son, Charles. Charles was born in 1740, entered the church. Rev. Charles Woodward was rector of Ardee. He died in 1793 and there is a memorial to him and his family in Kells Church of Ireland church. His first wife, Esther Wade of Clonabreany, died in 1776 and his second wife Elizabeth Minchin died in 1778. Henry, son of Benjamin and Esther, succeeded to Drumbarrow. The present house at Drumbaragh was constructed in 1800 for Henry Woodward. 

In 1835 Drumbarrow House was described as the residence of Mr. Woodward. Drumbarrow was described as a neat house of two storeys and basement, surrounded by a well cared small demesne. There were considerable offices. A school house stood not far from the house in the 1830s. The famous Victorian architect, Benjamin Woodward, spent his childhood at his uncle’s home in Drumbarragh 

Henry married Sarah-Catherine Wade of Clonabreany in 1800. Their second son, Robert, inherited Drumbarrow in 1838. Born in 1805, Robert entered Trinity College and was called to the Irish bar in 1829. His brother, Henry Thomas, emigrated and settled in Illinois, U.S.A. Robert died in 1864. 

Drumbaragh was purchased by the Sweetman family in 1859 and it remained in the family’s hands until 1958. John Sweetman was the eldest son of a Dublin brewer. He took an active interest in nationalistic politics. In the mid to late 1870s he took over the full running of Drumbaragh from his mother. He joined the Irish Land League and proposed the MP for Meath, Charles Stewart Parnell for the position of President. He was one of the first Meath landowners to dispose of his estate under the 1903 land act.  In 1880 Sweetman visited America and became involved in a scheme to settle poor Irish farmers in a colony in Minnesota. The family brewery in Dublin was sold to Arthur Guinness & Sons in 1891 and Sweetman decided to enter full time into politics. He was elected as an anti-Parnellite Irish Parliamentary Party MP for East Wicklow in 1892. In the general election of 1895 he stood for Meath North and was narrowly defeated. On 11 September 1895 Sweetman married Agnes, daughter of John P. Hanly of Navan. 

In 1899 Sweetman was elected to Meath County Council and served as chairman 1902-8. He was one of the founders and financial backers of Sinn Féin in 1905, succeeding Edward Martyn to be the second President of the party in 1908. Arthur Griffith took over as the third President later in the year. He was arrested at his home in Meath followin the 1916 Rising in which he did not apparently play any active part, and was taken to prison in England. Sweetman was an opponent of women’s suffrage, and was criticised for endowing a UCD scholarship on condition that female students should be excluded from competing for it. He supported the Pro-Treaty side in the Civil War but changed his allegiance to Fianna Fail after 1927. He died in 1936. There is an article on Sweetman in the Dictionary of Irish Biography, written by Patrick Maume. The Sweetman family papers are in the National Library. John Walter Sweetman, the eldest son of John and Agnes Sweetman, married Olivia Dudley, and inherited the Drumbaragh estate after the death of his father. John Walter died in 1961.